South Korea: professional sports attendance by sport 2023

The most popular type of professional sports in South Korea in 2023 was baseball, with around 8.4 million spectators at KBO baseball games, drawing around two million more fans than in the past year. In contrast, the second most popular professional sporting event, soccer, drew around three million spectators. On the other hand, the Women's Korean Basketball League (WKBL) still struggled to bring its spectators numbers back to the level of 2019. The best-paid professional baseball players receive more, as well, for example two billion South Korean won compared to 1.7 billion won for the best-paid football player. Professional e-sports, such as LOL (League of Legends) games, were also popular among younger people, with people in their twenties and thirties making up nearly two-thirds of e-sports fans.

Sports Industry in South Korea

The Korean sports industry has seen continuous growth in the past years. The number of companies and their sales revenue have grown. Over eight thousand sports facilities were newly registered over the past decade, while professional sports are receiving hundreds of billions of won more in sponsorship than before. Most of the industry’s income came from domestic sales of apparel and equipment, and private citizens’ use of sports-related facilities. Exports made up a small portion of revenues. However, despite the growth in the past years, a 2018 survey found that the small size of many businesses and financial limitations are hindering greater growth. In the same survey, respondents thought the most urgent government measure to help the industry grow was increased financial support.

Sports for the ordinary citizen

A survey on popular sports in Korea in 2019 showed that the most popular sport for private citizens was taking walks, followed by hiking, and then indoor activities such as gymnastics or bowling. Baseball and football were not among the most popular sports for private citizens to play, despite the popularity of the professional leagues. Almost two-thirds of Koreans took part in sports activities at least once a week. Even though the most popular sports were private activities that do not require specialized facilities, the number of people visiting such facilities have increased by around eight percent in the past several years.